Day 7 and Boutique-y deliver us an Auchroisk. A relatively new Scottish distillery, Auchroisk was founded in 1972 by Justerini & Brooks to produce malt whisky to support their J&B blend. Our Auchroisk is a 20 year old and is bottled at 47.9%. If you’re a fan of the zombie genre you’ll love this Emily Chappell designed label (we’re using the image of the previous NAS bottling until this new 20 year old is released proper).
Nose: Quite floral and a touch grassy. Freshly made fruit tea, cut flowers, cinnamon toast, tanned leather and red berries provide a fresh but delicate nose that is a million miles away from the rampaging undead. A teaspoon of hydration brings out some barley water aromas as well as drawing out some of the cask in the form of vanilla.
Taste: Light but with good weight, honey and honeycomb (Crunchie bars) start us off, followed by juicy fruits – soured oranges, lemon juice and some tart apples. Wood appears in the back palate alongside vanilla, both quite strong. Water adds to the fruitiness and gives this a more youthful feel than its 20 years of maturation.
Finish: Medium to long with wood and polish gradually fading and discernible cloves.
I find this Auchroisk to be solid, but unremarkable. It’s light and generally breezy but the cask influence feels either un-integrated or in places overwrought. A little middle of the road for me I’m afraid.